^be Stors of tbe TRoct 11 



dulgence. For all these reasons parents and teachers 

 should lead the minds of the young to the interests 

 of plant life. 



The study of botany is not " merely the pulling 

 of plants to pieces to find out certain dry names " ; 

 it is directed to every department of the plant world, 

 and invades and brings ]>ack trophies from the won- 

 der and romance land of the vegetable kingdom. 



One may begin with fossil plants, may continue 

 with the algai of the waters, the lichens on the walls, 

 the mosses in the w^ood, or find ample occupation in 

 the life mysteries of the splendid hosts of the flow- 

 ering plants. 



THE BORDER-LAND 



One may begin to study the most highly special- 

 ized blossoms, and insensibly be led, step by step, 

 dowm to the lower planes of life. The rose beckons 

 the student back along the line of plant ascent, and 

 beguiles to an investigation of that lesser relation, 

 the strawberry, and more humble yet, the star-faced 

 cinquefoil. Lower still, the microscope piloting the 

 way, w^e may be among the invisible, so far as the 

 naked eye is concerned. We study, bent over the 

 pond, glass in hand, the duck-weed ; and here is 

 something lashing the water, showing motion ; is it 

 an animal or a vegetable? We have reached the 



